Secret Family
by clo-eli
Summary: semi-AU Ryuichi is a famous popstar his secret cousin is his successor.  Not a lot of people were able to tell that there were any familial ties between them and Ryuichi was proud of raising his cousin.
1. Chapter 1

I do not own Gravitation, it belongs to its respective owners.

Summary: semi-AU Ryuichi is a famous popstar his secret cousin is his predecessor. Not a lot of people were able to tell that there were any familial ties between them and Ryuichi was proud of raising his cousin.

Secret Family

Chapter 1

Ryuichi was in an emotional high, Nittle Grasper had just finished their latest concert tour and their music sales were better than expected. He was going to relax for the small vacation they were given and spend some time with his family. He was pretty sure that Mr. Kumagoro would agree with him, after all he missed his little cousin Shuichi who was full of energy similar to himself. He started to pack for his surprise visit and was interrupted when his phone rang. "Hello?" He answered in a cheerful voice.

"Mr. Sakuma?" The caller asked.

"This is he. Who may I ask is looking for him?" He said in a more serious tone, yet making sure to be polite.

"Mr. Sakuma, this is the police. I'm sorry to inform you, but your aunt and uncle were shot and passed away shortly after a burglary accident. You are the only known relative to take your cousin Shuichi in. Will you be taking him in or would you rather have him in an orphanage?"

Ryuichi was still getting the thought of his relative's death out of his head that he almost didn't hear the last part. "Of course I'm taking him in. I'm not letting him go. Where do you want me to pick him up." He said upset.

"We are still in the local hospital. We'll be seeing you here." With that the phone was hung up.

Ryuichi made sure to take Mr. Kumagoro with him, Shuichi would need him while he dealt with the paper work involved. As he drove to the hospital he started to think about the changes he would have to do. His apartment was thankfully big enough, for once he was glad that he bought such a big apartment. He did not want his cousin to suffer through the things he did because of his fame, which meant Shuichi had to stay out of the spotlight. Unfortunately that meant that his bandmates would not find out, the less people that knew the better. He was afraid that if his bandmates knew then they would start to act different, which would alert the media ,which would lead them to start an investigation. He was going to avoid that. He hoped that his neighbor Mrs. Nakano would help him with his cousin, after all she had a son the same age as Shuichi. She was also the only person that knew who he was and that he rented an apartment there. She wouldn't talk, he was sure of it. He would have to buy some other supplies as well as groceries. He hoped that Mrs. Nakano would do him a small favor and get some groceries and he'll pay her back. He got to the hospital and parked his car. He got to the front desk and saw that the officer was sitting down with his cousin who was crying.

Ryuichi quickly scooped his cousin into a protective embrace and held him as he cried. He combed his pick hair in what he hopped was a soothing manner. "Thank you for looking after him officer. Where would I go to get put as his guardian?"

"Your welcome Mr. Sakuma. Another officer and lawyer is going to bring the paperwork for you to fill. This way you could fill out all the paperwork for today, which includes the hospital paperwork."

Ryuichi nodded his head, he felt that Shuichi had stopped crying. He was going to greet his cousin properly, but noticed that he was fast asleep. He made his way to the front desk and asked the secretary for the phone. He didn't have to worry about being recognized since he had already put on a hat before the call and he was completely serious outside of his music. He dialed Mrs. Nakano's number and asked her for the favor. She agreed quite readily after she heard the circumstances and asked that they both have dinner with her and her son the following day. Ryuichi readily agreed. Luckily the paperwork was filled out and Shuichi did not once stir. He got into the car and placed Mr. Kumagoro into Shuichi's grip. "What am I going to do with you? Don't worry I'll make sure that no one harms you." He whispered to the sleeping boy.

A few hours later, Shuichi awoke to find the smell of someone cooking. He did not know where he was, but he remembered what had happened to his parents. He quietly made his way to the kitchen following where the smell was coming from. He was surprised to find his cousin Ryuichi cooking. Tears made their way to his face as he launched himself to his cousin. Ryuichi felt a his cousin grip him and he stopped momentarily in his cooking. "Hey Shuichi, I'll take care of you. Don't worry, you have your big cousin Ryuichi and Mr. Kumagoro looking after you. No evil shall cross your path or they will face our wrath." He said trying to cheer us Shuichi. This worked a bit, and caused Shuichi to smile. He was glad that he was not alone. The rest of the evening was spent with the two cousins getting to know each other better. Ryuichi made a note to get Shuichi his own Mr. Kumagoro so that each cousin would have their own best friend.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Gravitation, it belongs to its respective owners.

Chapter 2

The following day, the two cousins were reluctant to get out of bed. Shuichi ended up having nightmares through the night and not even sleeping with Ryuichi made the nightmares stop. Both of them barely got any sleep and were not in a hurry to wake up when they finally got a bit of sleep. Unfortunately, they needed to get up to go shopping for Shuichi's things as well as pick up some of the things from his parent's apartment. Ryuichi was going to put the rest of his Aunt and Uncle's things in storage for when Shuichi was older. Today was also the day he had to register himself as Shuichi's guardian at school and transfer him to the school closest to the apartment. Shuichi didn't seem to mind switching schools, apparently he didn't have a lot of friends and he didn't want to talk about the reasons. He decided to drop Shuichi off at Mrs. Nakano's apartment so that the two boys would get to know each other better. Ryuichi hoped that the two would become friends.

Ryuichi quickly put on a cap and sunglasses to help hide is identity as the singer that he was. He grabbed his cousins hand and Mr. Kumagoro was being held tightly by Shuichi's other hand. Shuichi refused to let him go since he knew that Ryuichi had to leave for a bit. In his mind, Mr. Kumagoro was just at good at protecting him as his cousin was.

Ryuichi knocked on the Nakano's apartment and was greeted by Mrs. Nakano. She quickly allowed Shuichi to come into the apartment. Shuichi was greeted by Hiroshi who was standing near his mother. "Why don't you go and show Shuichi around Hiro?" At his mother's command, Hiro introduced himself to Shuichi and showed him to his room where they could play.

"Shuichi take care, I'll see you soon." Ryuichi yelled happily to his cousin. His face turned serious as he faced Mrs. Nakano. "Thank you again for doing this Mam."

"How many times do I have to tell you to just call me Sakura? Really, it's no problem at all dear, I know what it means to have to take care of a child by yourself. Besides, you would always play with Hiro and take care of him when I couldn't . It'll be no problem at all, we'll just have to add one more to the usual routine. Now go on and scat, I know how long the paper work will take."

"Thank you again Sakura. I'll be back as soon as I can." With that, Ryuichi waved and left to take care of everything that needed to be done.

When he came to pick up Shuichi, it was already time to dinner and Sakura had them stay to eat with her and her son. Shuichi and Hiroshi became fast friends during the time they spent together. Ryuichi was glad that his cousin hand a new friend he could count on. Shuichi was animatedly telling his cousin how his day went and all the neat things they did. Sakura didn't look ready to kill Shuichi because of his hyper personality, which Ryuichi took as a sign that she would be a great person to help watch Shuichi while he wasn't there. In fact, she looked quite happy that her son was interacting with someone his age. After dinner, the two cousins left to their own apartment with promises to see each other the following day.

And so the routine began, on Ryuichi's days off, he would take Hiroshi and Shuichi to have fun while Sakura was able to work in peace. Ryuichi would drop the boys off at school in the morning and Sakura would pick them up from school.

When Ryuichi's first day back from the mini-vacation came, Shuichi did not want to let his cousin go. After a couple of hours, Shuichi finally let him go but Ryuichi was already late for practice. Tohma had already called him four times, which Ryuichi did not answer his phone. After dropping Shuichi off at the Nakano's, Ryuichi dashed to the music company.

"Where were you?" His bandmates questioned.

Ryuichi put on his hyper personality and made his face appear a bit guilty. "I slept in a bit late and Mr. Kumagoro wasn't able to wake me up, no matter how much he tried. Don't be mad at him, it was all my fault." Ryuichi was using his teary puppy eyes, which caused his bandmates' ire to melt. Ryuichi smirked inwardly. No one suspected that anything was different, not their manager and most especially not Tohma.

This continued for many years, no suspicions were ever made. Ryuichi was the bubbly singer of Nittle Grasper who only showed his serious side when he was on stage, or so almost everyone thought. However, he was quite serious when he had to take care of his cousin. When in came to disciplining him, Ryuichi learned to harden his face or Shuichi would not pay attention to his orders. Ryuichi even grew immune to his cousin's puppy eyes, a feat which is near impossible. While Shuichi was growing up, Ryuichi could see a lot of himself in his cousin. His cousin had his hyper personality, which only grew more as the years passed by and he grew accustomed to facing his parents' death. His cousin also had a great singing voice, which caused him to smile. He enjoyed the mini-karaoke nights that the two of them had in the apartment.

Shuichi and Hiroshi became best friends and would often do everything together. Hiroshi was the smarter of the two, but he still helped Shuichi with his schooling when Shuichi needed help. Shuichi and Hiroshi grew to become great fans of Nittle Grasper, Shuichi's obsession was borderline unhealthy which included his idolization of his cousin. Ryuichi was completely amused. The boys declared that they would form a band and take over Nittle Grasper's spot as the number one band. The first time this declaration was made, it caused Ryuichi to laugh at their determined faces. "Alright, you're on. That means that you guys better practice if you want to get to my level." Ryuichi's dare spurned the boys to concentrate more on their music, much to Sakura's annoyance. She quickly berated the singer for causing the boys to worry more about their music than their homework. Ryuichi had to remedy the dare and said that it counted only after they finished their schooling and that they graduate from high school. He couldn't give a higher educational degree to attain without sounding like a hypocrite.


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own Gravitation, it belongs to its respective owners.

Thank you for those that reviewed.

Chapter 3

A couple of years passed, Nittle Grasper was still extremely popular and Shuichi and Hiroshi were still best friends. By now, the two of them were in their second year of high school and Ryuichi was now faced with a major decision. Ryuichi was offered a job in America as a solo artist. This excited the singer, but saddened him because no matter how many times he talked to Shuichi, Shuichi refused to leave the town.

"I can look after myself." The young teen argued. "How about we act like your an important business man, that way your absence could be explained for being away a lot." He bargained next.

"This isn't about my secret, Shuichi, this is about your safety." Ryuichi said annoyed. "Sakura can't take care of you guys all the time, which was why I take care of you two those times."

"So that means that Hiro will be by himself those days if you take me with you."

"Fine," he conceded, "I have one more option that I am willing to use. We'll see if she agrees or not." With that, he left to go retrieve the phone from the kitchen. He dialed one of the numbers he had memorized and waited for someone to pick up. "Noriko," he said in a serious voice, "I need to ask a favor of you. Could you get to Sunset apartments and go to Room 227 without telling Tohma?"

Noriko was shocked to hear Ryuichi being serious and quickly agreed. When she went to the apartment, she was greeted by Ryuichi in his normal hyper stage. He led her to the living room. "What's this about Ryuichi that you don't want Tohma to know?" she asked.

Ryuichi was about to explain when Shuichi burst into the living room. "Hello!" He greeted in the same hyper manner that Ryuichi has.

"It's about him." Ryuichi plainly stated in his serious mode. "I need you to help me keep him a secret from Tohma."

"Woah, woah, woah." Noriko said while crossing her arms in front of her. "I am not getting involved with your sex scandal."

Ryuichi turned red and glared at her while Shuichi turned his head to his right side with a confused look on his face. "What's sex?"

Ryuichi panicked. "It's something you do when you love someone." He said quickly.

"Do we have sex?" He asked innocently.

"No!" Ryuichi shouted, while ignoring Noriko's snort of skepticism.

"Does that mean you don't love me?" Shuichi spoke in a depressed tone with tear gathering in his eyes.

"I do love you." Ryuichi said, trying to find a way to fix the situation. He turned to glare and Noriko with more intensity which frightened her. He then turned back to his cousin and had a caring expression. "There are different types of love. The one's we have are of family love. The one you have with Hiroshi is that of a friendship. The love we are talking about is the love that your parents had for each other."

Noriko and Shuichi had thoughtful expressions on their face for different reasons. "Is kissing sex?" Shuichi asked after he remembered the many times that his parents kissed.

Ryuichi was once again a scarlet color. "No, but it sometimes leads to eat." He said in a strangled voice. His cousin nodded along, easily accepting the explanation. One day in the future, Ryuichi would curse his own words along with his cousin's naiveness.

"So," Noriko started, "he's your family?"

Ryuichi took a few more seconds to compose himself. "I'm sorry, I forgot to give a proper introduction. This is my cousin Shuichi." Ryuichi grabbed his cousin into a hug from behind. "We're the only family we have left, but I don't want him to get stalked. I've been taking care of him since he was eight, about six years ago."

Noriko was shocked. In those years, she had never suspected Ryuichi to be taking care of somebody. "What is it that you need?" She asked confused. "Aren't you leaving for America?"

"That's where the problem is." Ryuichi sighed and rested his head on top of Shuichi's ignoring the younger boy's complains. "Shuichi doesn't want to go. He wants to stay here with his friend Hiroshi, who is our next door neighbor. Noriko, I know you just started having a family, which is why I'm just asking if you could be an extra look out for Shuichi?"

Noriko was still. She knew that Ryuichi wanted to go to America for his career, but she could also see how much she cared for his cousin and how hard it was going to be for him to leave. She put her arms on her hips and glared at Ryuichi while she started to tap her feet to show her annoyance. "You know, you guys aren't each other's only family." Seeing their confused looks she added, "It's about time you came to your older sister for advice and help." She aimed a sweet smile at Shuichi. "It's finally nice to meet my younger cousin. I hope that we could keep each other company in absence of our favorite singer."

"So you'll do it?" Ryuichi said in a hopeful tone.

"Of course. It'll be just like taking care of you. Now while you continue planning, why don't I go take my newly discovered cousin out to get to know each other. I'm sure my daughter and husband will just love to meet him." Noriko said with confidence.

"What about me?" Ryuichi cried as they left him in the apartment to finish preparing for the move. "I want to go too."


End file.
